Mr. Helpful's Finishing Touch

As you have read in other posts, one of Ayden's personality traits is that he likes to be helpful. I think this desire stems from four reasons: 1) He wants to participate in whatever we are doing; 2) helping us is part of his routine, and he loves routines; 3) many tasks appeal to his developing fine motor skills; and 4) he cares about us and wants to show us by being helpful.

We have mentioned that our home has been a very busy place. We have had to make a lot of changes to accommodate two little boys. Before we moved Ayden to his new dragon room, Bryan painted the room green. Of course, Ayden wanted to be where Daddy was... and then he wanted to do what Daddy was doing. As it turns out, Ayden is a pretty good painter!

Sometimes we hesitate to allow Ayden to help because it seems as though the process will take so much longer; however, I have discovered that Ayden picks up skills fairly quickly, and if we will teach him what to do, the tasks at hand are actually endearing and sometimes fun. This past weekend, Ayden attached felt to the bottom of our kitchen chairs. The only two things Bryan did to assist Ayden was pull the stickers off the felt and handle the bulky chairs.

Below are some activities Ayden demonstrates his helpfulness:

• Cleaning surfaces, his hands, and his face- Give this kid a wipe, and his first instinct is to clean!
• Turning off the lights- Ayden knows when we need the lights to be turned off, and he will often point to them as indication that he wishes to be the one to do it.
• Closing doors/drawers- Sometimes this skill is actually annoying, as Ayden occasionally-- okay, often-- closes doors and drawers before we need them closed, or he will shut a door on our rear end while we are working on something. However, if we ask him to close something, he happily obliges.
• Closing wipe warmer or handing the wipe container- As part of his diaper changing duties, he is responsible for the wipe containers.
• Buckling/Unbuckling from the carseat and stroller- I actually thing this is more about his love for occupational skills than actually assisting us, but I'm glad he wishes to learn.
• Putting cap on his tube flush water- His daddy made him part of his tube feeding process by allowing him to screw on the cap to his flush water.
• Putting blocks/books/toys away- If one asks Ayden to clean up, he does so with little or no complaint. Lately, he has even initiated cleanup on his own.
• Putting shoes and clothes on- He really wants to help with these activities, so we have been working to teach him.
• Putting dirty clothes in the hamper and folding (organizing) clean clothes- Dealing with dirty clothes, I believe, is just about feeling like a big boy. Organizing his clothes... well, I think he might have picked that up from me.
• Helping me get up- One of the most precious things that occurs throughout the day is Ayden's desire to help me stand up from the floor or the furniture. He reaches for my hand and pulls with a GRUNT!
• Encouraging me- I have had a more difficult time physically with this pregnancy. Ayden picks up on when I'm not feeling well. He will reach out to give me hugs, he'll make kissy noises at me, or he'll pat me. He's really a sweet child! 
• Blending purees- Ayden recently helped his daddy blend purees.